Gregor Chisholm: Blue Jays face toughest test yet in red-hot Rays
have made no secret about their top goal for the season. They intend on making a deep run through the post-season and their best shot at making that happen is by coming out on top of the American League East.
The Rays roll into town Friday night riding a historic run. They have yet to lose a game and their perfect 13-0 start is tied with the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers for the longest streak to open a season during the modern era. Only the St. Louis Maroons started the year with more victories, going 20-0 in 1884.
Eleven of the Rays’ 13 victories have been by at least four runs, and they lead the majors in just about every major pitching and offensive stat. They finished Thursday’s 9-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox with the most runs , homers and the highest on-base plus slugging percentage . They ranked first in ERA and walks/hits per inning pitched , while allowing the fewest home runs .
By May 21, the Yankees had a 51/2-game lead atop the division. About a month later, that number grew to 13 and the early cushion meant that the AL East title was never really in doubt. The closest the Jays got was 41/2 games back on Sept. 17. If there’s one knock on what the Rays have accomplished so far, it’s that they have yet to play a good team. They opened the year with three-game sweeps of the Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics before taking all four from the Red Sox. Each of those four teams could end up at the bottom of their respective divisions by the end of the year.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Blue Jays turn into boom Jays in homer-happy home openerThe final team in Major League Baseball to play a home game this season did so at great volume — both from the sellout crowd of 42.053 and from the booming bats in the lineup. From longleysunsport: Blue Jays turn into boom Jays in homer-happy home opener
Read more »
This woman pledged to eat a poutine hot dog for every Blue Jays home run – then they hit a recordThis woman pledged to eat a poutine hot dog for every Blue Jays home run – then they hit a record.
Read more »
Kiermaier, Springer lift Blue Jays over Tigers 9-3 in Toronto's home openerOutfielders Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer had back-to-back homers in the fifth inning as the Blue Jays held off the Detroit Tigers 9-3 on Tuesday in Toronto's home opener.
Read more »
Kevin Kiermaier, George Springer lift Blue Jays over Tigers 9-3 in Toronto’s home openerKiermaier and Springer hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, while Alejandro Kirk has a three-run homer and an RBI single
Read more »
The stadium – and team – is better at Blue Jays home openerImprovements at the Rogers Centre have made Toronto’s concrete baseball tomb less like an Albanian pillbox and more like Cleveland
Read more »